1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to computer systems adapted to store or synthesize different speech messages and to reproduce a selected message, and more particularly to a system of this type in which the reproduced speech message is so modulated as to impart emotional expressivity thereto whose character depends on the user's choice.
2. Status of Prior Art
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,691,652 (Clynes), entitled "Programmed System for Evoking Emotional Responses," discloses a system adapted to internally generate in a subject different emotional states in a programmed manner. By going through a timed sequence of these states in the course of a sentic cycle during which the subject applies finger pressure to a pressure-sensitive transducer in a manner expressing the emotion he then feels, the subject's ability to freely express emotion and overcome inhibitive and repressive tendencies is enhanced.
In my prior '652 system, the programmer takes the form of a magnetic tape cassette player which reproduces at timed intervals in the course of a sentic cycle a sequence of words each donating a specific generalized emotion, such as love, hate, anger or grief. Every presented word is followed by a series of time-spaced audible start clicks commanding the subject, upon hearing each click, to express the denoted emotion by pressing with a finger the actuator element of the transducer in a manner which expresses this emotion. This transducer which senses vector components of the applied finger pressure yields output signals which are applied to a TV monitor on whose screen is displayed in real time the transient pattern or sentic shape of the subject's tactile expression of a particular emotion.
A similar system is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,755,922 (Clynes) entitled "System for Producing Personalized Sentograms." In this system, the programmer is also a magnetic tape cassette player, but instead of presenting a sequence of words representing different generalized emotions, presented in sequence are words, each identifying an individual with whom the subject has a close relationship or about whom the subject has a distinct feeling. But because sentograms tend to be universal for each emotion expressed thereby, they can be used as a universal communication means for that emotion.
As pointed out in my '922 patent, the collection of personalized sentograms developed by the subject in response to a series of names is useful in characterizing his condition. Each personalized sentogram may be analyzed in the light of sentograms representing abstract, generalized emotions. For example, if the personalized sentogram for "father" is quite similar in its essentic form to an abstract sentogram for "love," clearly the subject feels love for his father. But in other instances, the personalized sentograms may exhibit compound effects, such as fear-awe or hate-anger, in which event one finds in the personalized sentograms hybrid forms of the abstract sentograms. The collection of personalized sentograms therefore lends itself to analysis to provide a personality relationship profile of the subject.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,895 discloses a self-sufficient sentic cycler unit which dispenses with the need for a magnetic tape player as the programmer. The unit includes a solid-state memory having digitally stored therein a set of words representing different emotions, as well as a click or other command signal instructing the subject to tactilely express the emotion represented by the word selected from the memory. The memory is controlled by a programmed microprocessor associated with a clock to produce a sentic cycle in the course of which words are selected from the set in a predetermined sequence, each selected word being followed by a series of time-space clicks. The digital output of the memory is converted into an analog signal that is reproduced so that it can be heard by the subject. The unit is provided with a finger rest which is to be pressed by the subject, who after hearing a selected word then hears a command click in the click series following the word. After each audible click, the subject then exerts finger pressure on the finger rest in a manner expressive of the emotion generated or evoked by the word.
The unit disclosed in my '895 patent does not use a pressure-sensitive transducer from whose output is derived a sentogram. In that unit, finger pressure is applied by the subject to a finger rest to obtain an emotional release and other psychological benefits, and sentograms play no role in this context.
Also of prior art interest are my U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,999,773, 5 4,763,257 and 4,704,682 (Clynes) which disclose systems in which music is imbued with a composer's inner pulse and/or with predictive amplitude shapes embodying emotional meaning. These patents are hereinafter referred to collectively as my music processing patents.